[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

at the moment I'm feeding a mixture of pureed fruit (fresh so far, I made up a big batch and froze that down the day before (strawberries, blueberries, banana, kiwi, mango, nectarines, honey, a little bit of Spirulina, (think thats it, (note the last 2 was only like 1/4tsp of honey in the entire mix, and it would be somewhere around the 1/128th of a teaspoon of Spirulina(literally a slight dusting))

now I'm mixing day gecko food in with that (wasn't able to get the sandfire CGD when I was at the expo, its pretty much the same ( slight difference in the amounts of ingredients, theres 5% more protein and 1%more crude fat in the CGD )

I'm planning to get some repashy CGD (not certain what flavours to get) though obviously having a full pot of the the day gecko formula I dont want that to go to waste.

however though it doesn't appeal to me, I think adding some live food might make them seem more interested in food (I've seen them eating, and can get them licking small amounts of my fingers,) but I worry that they dont get enough. they are VERY active, and run up and down my arms (and back......) but still I worry (when they bend I can see the outlines of their ribs, (also wondering if I need to get a high precision scales.)

but what I'm wondering is whether I should get them some live food. I was looking on ebay and I can get 250 small crickets (4-5mm) or 25 dubia roaches (10mm+) as well as fruit flies, locusts mealworms, waxworms etc for £4.95 a tub plus £2 postage (3 tubs of the above for that amount)

[Olivine]

It can be very difficult to get the correct balance between calcium and vitamins / minerals by just adding it manually to pureed fruit. I therefore tend to offer fruit only as a treat rather than as a staple. Personally, I would offer very limited amounts of banana; it has a high potassium content and this can inhibit calcium uptake.

I'd therefore definitely recommend trying to get the littluns onto Repashy 2-part diet. The fact that it's especially formulated for cresties means that no additional supplementation is required if that is all you intend to feed them (if you give them live food too, the feeders just needs a light dusting with pure calcium powder). Obviously, cresties are all individual, but if it's any help mine seem to prefer the banana, fig, papaya, mango and rose flavours, although they will eat any of them at a push. It seems especially popular if it's mixed with pureed melon or mango instead of water (fruit that has a thicker consistency tends to bulk out the CGD so the mix has a lower proportion of CGD in it and, therefore, less nutritional value. Melon, however, has a virtually identical consistency to water).

Generally speaking, cresties that are fed live food in addition to CGD seem to grow more quickly, presumably because of the higher protein content of their diet. I give my cresties locusts and dubia roaches and they absolutely love them; they definitely prefer live food to anything else. I'm not sure about offering them fruit flies though (I think that they'd just be too small for them) and most cresties I've encountered don't seem particularly interested in mealworm.

I'm not sure which ebay site you're looking at, but I'd definitely recommend Internet Reptile (they trade on ebay under their old name of the Roach Farm). I normally buy the feeders for all my geckos from them and they are very good; reasonable prices and very reliable (most deliveries arrive the day after the order is placed). They are currently offering 200 small roaches for £12.95 (this size is perfect for juvie cresties and the roaches will live for ages along as they don't get too cold).

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

waiting for the Repashy to arrive (got 2lbs, so gonna last a while (Mango, Passionfruit, Peach and Rose.))

also got the roaches today. 2 of the geckos ate some (2 roaches each, and then ignored any after that) the smaller Red one didn't look at them (the roach was climbing over its head) I used the plastic containers I got the geckos in to feed them, to avoid adding live food to their faunarium, and then not being able to get them out.
is it usual to have some geckos that just aren't interested in insects??

also, all the research I'd done said that dubia roaches didn't bite, but on of them made one of the geckos jump after it was "looking" round its tail.

[Olivine]

It depends upon the diet that they're used to; if they haven't been fed roaches previously, it might take them a while to get used to the idea of them being food. I'm sure they'll get used to it eventually though (virtually everyone I've encountered who keeps cresties says that roaches are their favourite feeders). Also, don't forget, cresties have a very small stomach capacity, so a few roaches may leave them stuffed.

In my experience, I've never known a dubia roach to bite; maybe it just startled the gecko to realise it was crawling on / next to it.

An alternative is to put the roaches in glass tealight holders (the Ikea ones are good; very cheap as they cost pennies). Being glass, the crestie can see the movement of the roaches, which triggers a hunting response; they're easy to keep clean; and, as they have steep sides, the roaches can't climb out and escape into the viv. They're also chunky, so cresties can't accidentally overturn them).

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

I use those for food dishes now. might try those another time.

the one gecko went for the roach straight off, the other waited a while before going for it, and the red one didn't do anything.

interestingly though, all of them fired up when I (tried) feeding them, the red one was almost chocolate brown/reddish, and the yellow and orange were more intense.